After my initial meeting with Mr. Scott at Cole Middle School, we decided that a bi-weekly routine would work as I am in Coventry High School as well. My first day at Cole, I arrived at 6:45am to prep with Mr. Scott for the day. When I got to the school there were very few teachers there, it was mainly administration. After I signed in, I walked to the classroom and met with Mr. Scott.
Using the time spent before school, Mr. Scott preps for his lessons and reviews what he will be doing with each class for the day. Today we set up a lab experiment that the students would be doing on air. I can see that getting to school early (especially before lab days) is important as a science teacher. This time, if used wisely, can give you a leg up on the day and make sure you are prepared to teach each class.
As the first class began to roll in, Mr. Scott was in the hallway greeting the students as they walked through the door. He puts their assignment out on his desk and the students know to grab it on their way in. This was a great example of a classroom management skill that I would like to implement in my future classrooms. With the students already on task before they even sit down, the time spent in the class can be focused on the lesson instead of getting students organized. Opening the class, Mr. Scott walked around the classroom and asked some opening questions. These questions are designed to have students thinking and wondering about the upcoming lesson. Mr. Scott did not necessarily answer the students questions directly, rather he left them to investigate through the upcoming lab. I like this technique because it gets students thinking and getting different ideas. Though some students may be coming up with wrong answers, they are invested in the experiment and will eventually get to the right answer in the post lab discussion. Mr. Scott teaches the same subject to multiple classes, so everyday he teaches the same lesson a few different times. Over the course of the day he tweaks his pre-lab discussion to get more students participating or to get students to answer questions in different ways.
Overall my first day at Cole Middle school was a success. I was able to see all of Mr. Scott’s classes and even presented the lab to a few classes myself. The ability to see a different school environment than I have been used to in previous practicums really opened my eyes to the variability in student dynamics and pedagogical techniques
Journal #1
Starting From the Beginning
After my initial meeting with Mr. Scott at Cole Middle School, we decided that a bi-weekly routine would work as I am in Coventry High School as well. My first day at Cole, I arrived at 6:45am to prep with Mr. Scott for the day. When I got to the school there were very few teachers there, it was mainly administration. After I signed in, I walked to the classroom and met with Mr. Scott.
Using the time spent before school, Mr. Scott preps for his lessons and reviews what he will be doing with each class for the day. Today we set up a lab experiment that the students would be doing on air. I can see that getting to school early (especially before lab days) is important as a science teacher. This time, if used wisely, can give you a leg up on the day and make sure you are prepared to teach each class.
As the first class began to roll in, Mr. Scott was in the hallway greeting the students as they walked through the door. He puts their assignment out on his desk and the students know to grab it on their way in. This was a great example of a classroom management skill that I would like to implement in my future classrooms. With the students already on task before they even sit down, the time spent in the class can be focused on the lesson instead of getting students organized.
Opening the class, Mr. Scott walked around the classroom and asked some opening questions. These questions are designed to have students thinking and wondering about the upcoming lesson. Mr. Scott did not necessarily answer the students questions directly, rather he left them to investigate through the upcoming lab. I like this technique because it gets students thinking and getting different ideas. Though some students may be coming up with wrong answers, they are invested in the experiment and will eventually get to the right answer in the post lab discussion. Mr. Scott teaches the same subject to multiple classes, so everyday he teaches the same lesson a few different times. Over the course of the day he tweaks his pre-lab discussion to get more students participating or to get students to answer questions in different ways.
Overall my first day at Cole Middle school was a success. I was able to see all of Mr. Scott’s classes and even presented the lab to a few classes myself. The ability to see a different school environment than I have been used to in previous practicums really opened my eyes to the variability in student dynamics and pedagogical techniques